After Death By Ego, Dyalekt of the Diamond Boiz puts old moniker to rest, becomes Jay Class

Dyalekt, an MC from the Denver hip-hop collective known as the Diamond Boiz, has decided after a long period of contemplation to officially change his name to his longtime nickname Jay Class. The decision comes more than a year after his appropriately titled album, Death By Ego, and precedes his upcoming projects, a Life by Humility EP and the Diamond Boiz' R 4Ever, both slated for release this summer.

"Dyalekt was a name I came up with in probably tenth grade because it looked good when I wrote it on a notebook and I've been calling myself Jay Class for a long time," says the Diamond Boiz MC. "But I didn't change my name because, in my mind, it was already too late. I already had my music on MySpace and Sound Click and all these other things, and I thought people knew me at that point."

But in the end, a change just made the most sense. "I've been referring to myself as Jay class for a long time," he points out. "It's simple. People can remember it. You can spell it correctly....I think it's a little more mature. Maybe it just fits me more... I feel like my music will be a bit more mature than Dyalekt."

Although the Dyalekt moniker had been wearing old for a while, the tipping point for Jay Class came around his 26th birthday. "It was like a reality check, like, 'Woah. I'm older than the both of the greats, [Biggie and 2Pac,] as far as hip-hop is concerned ... I'm four years older than Aliyah was when she died,' and then you still feel like you haven't done much, and it's that kind of almost depressing [laughs]. It's a little depressing, and you kinda have that reality check. I'm the type of person who's not a pity person, like, 'Oh, no, I'm old. Nothing's happening.' I'm more of like a, you know, I've gotta keep going."